DDB’s chainsaw spot cuts too deep for some
April 1 2009, 1:53 pm | | 25 Comments
A commercial for Stihl chainsaws, via DDB New Zealand, thatmakes light of a deathbed scene, has drawn criticism for beinginsensitive and offensive.
The TVC has just been selected as Bestads top spot of the week.
25 Comments
Good spot, even better PR.
Well done.
Shades of Stella & XXXX Flying Doctors.
Both of which were much, much funnier.
This just feels cheap and nasty.
I can see both of your viewpoints.
Good spot, even better PR.
Well done.
But it also has shades of Stella & XXXX Flying Doctors.
Both of which were much, much funnier.
This just feels cheap and nasty.
I’m confused.
Funny. Who wrote it?
I can’t believe this old chestnut deathbed scene (that has sweet FA to do with chainsaws) is in best ads pick of the week.
The old digger could whisper absolutely anything.
Chuck a chainsaw in there. Go on.
Totally un-original.
It is moderately funny at best and totally generic. Very, very average.
And the PR angle is even lamer.
Ungood.
I’m sure I’ve seen this before for another client and by the way it’s rubbish.
What the &^*(
I reckon it’ll have pretty good cut through.
The problem is in the execution. It is artless. There’s a gag in the script — if I had read it, I would have thought it was funny.
Maybe not original, or slap yer sides funny, but there it is, a gag. So, the task of the production company is to make the gag come alive (unintentional puns abound, sorry).
An old man’s dying words… yup. No-one ever complained about Jimmy Durante finally and literally “kicking the bucket” in a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. No-one ever complained about Rolf (forgive me) Harris’ dying stockman in Tie Me Kangaroo Down. There’s been gazillions of comic death scenes.
But this one sucks big time. It is artless. Why? Because it doesn’t understand comedy.
A comic death scene can be hilarious. A real death scene is, to quote Spike Milligan, about as funny as a baby with cancer.
I saw my grandmother on her death bed. I saw my father on his death bed. Both times, it looked just like that commercial. Sick, old, frail people on a hospital bed with tubes. It was heart-breaking. And this commercial puts us exactly into that same space.
Any humour that follows is like a fart in church.
This is where comedy set up may have helped, letting us know something slightly funny may follow… ah, but there’s no point explaining to experts…
Well done, monkey spankers. Grab a banana.
I agree. No artistry. just boneheaded clumsiness.
I think it’s funny. Pisses all over that boring, po-faced trash ballet stuff.
I laughed.
And yet, people I know have died.
Bizarre.
This is so stupid it’s not worth saying anything more.
The element of surprise and believability is the art of good comedy and communication which is saddly missing-Bummer! Blame bad direction.
If you ever needed evidence that not much happens in New Zealand, this should do nicely.
6 people complain about an ad, and it makes it onto the TV news. Fuck me dead, did this story come before or after the one about a kid getting a flat tyre on his bmx?
I’m tellin ya’s all… if you want to create an ambient stunt that stops a nation, do it in fucking New Zealand. No wonder all their Cannes entries boast things like “89% of the population got involved… with 98.9% claiming it was the most fun they’ve ever had in their lives”.
You all take yourselves far too seriously.
there’s nothing horrendously wrong with the execution. The problem is that this ad is a generic, old and familiar gag. Felt very early nineties – but maybe that’s being kind. Also, the endline felt clumsy.
11.42…. you’re proof that Kiwis can’t take any criticism ….the ad is crap,simple as that. Its been done before and been done better.
Bit disappointed. With that PR release I was expecting to see a chainsaw circumcision.
1:54 — Now THAT would have been funny.
DDB’s chainsaw swings through Melbourne creative dept, apparently.
This ad is in bad taste and should be pulled ASAP. Not funny Jan!
The client has guts. Good work, better than any retail ad for the product.